Mystery Meals

[Claire]

OK, I know you've done it. You can confess it here. Have you ever gone to the back or bottom of your freezer or pantry, and found something there and not had any idea what it was? I thought I'd gotten better about labeling stuff, but found something today. I'll tell you about it, if you confess to me, first!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Thought I was pulling out a sloppily filled container of lasagna to take to work for lunch. When it was nuked, found that I had a thick chili that had been tailored to fill burritos. Yes, and there have been others, usually, mystery broths that turned out to be something else.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I've ended up with raw hamburger or fish in my work lunch...I quit pulling things from the freezer for lunch.

 

[taxlady]

Doesn't happen much here. Nothing comes to mind other than the mystery containers with something or other furry that we may never figure out.

 

[buckytom]

i just did that a few times recently.

what i thought was a frozen quart of meatballs and sausage ended up being big chunks of grilled pork shoulder that i threw togerher with leftover tomato sauce. nuked and plated with a side of potato chips, it was a fine 3am lunch.

then, what i thought was turkey gravy ended up being yellow lentil soup. it was pretty good nuked and ladled over an open face turkey sandwich.

i did end up finding the gravy. after taking it to work, my lunch that night was a turkey gravy sandwich, lol, and a bag of chips.

 

[Zhizara]

Our recent thread about what's in the freezer got me better about marking things.

I've ended up with mystery meals so many times I can't remember them all. I usually just make do with whatever it is.

Thanks for the chuckle BT. Sometimes making do ends up being very delicious!

 

[Katie H]

i did end up finding the gravy. after taking it to work, my lunch that night was a turkey gravy sandwich, lol, and a bag of chips.

Nothing wrong with that. In our house, we call that "gravy bread." I love gravy over homemade bread as a lunch.

As for mystery food? Doesn't happen here much, but a while back I took out what I thought was homemade chicken broth. Nope. It was homemade fish stock. Not exactly what I had in mind for the dish I was preparing.

 

[GrillingFool]

Not since I became serious about my freezer.
My mother's freezer was a scary place... things checked in, but they never checked out. No registration needed.

When I moved in with dad after Mom went to the great diner in the sky, there was 3 year old bread, 7 year old whole chickens and more mystery than Holmes could shake a stick at!

I have a list on my freezer door with things listed by shelf. And if I put it in there, it has ID and date.

Mysterious freezers scare me.

 

[Claire]

Well, today it was something I am sure I thought I'd completely labeled at the time ..."mushroom beef stock". OK. I started to thaw it, and it had slices of chili peppers in it (I assumed we were going for stroganof). Then ... well, My husband and I looked at it together, and bless is soul, he said whatever, you've never fixed a bad meal. .. oh, by the way, how about adding the last of that harissa I made last week? We wound up with a delicious meal, but we both,as cleaning up, looked at each other and said, holey moley, what did we just eat?

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

I'm far to anal with our two freezers, I use a foodsaver and color co-0rdinate the label.
Ps yesterday I went to visit my Mum I forgot to put on my track suit bottoms over my long johns it was like a scene from blazing saddles when I entered the care homes dinning room.

 

[spork]

Couple years ago, at a local kitchen supply store, I found these small plastic stickers with a dry erase surface. Since then, I can't recall any mistakes from the frig or freeze. Works like a charm. Containers get washed, reused, their labels simply erased.

 

[CWS4322]

Thought I was pulling out frozen corn--dumped it in the chili--it was salsa verde. It worked <g>.

Another time I pulled out "a chunk of meat." It was a pork roast, so I made either Milk Pork or Chili with Pork...can't remember, just remember that what I made was tasty.

Labels seem to fall off, sometimes. Now I write on the freezer wrap (as well as label the ziplock bag into which what is wrapped gets "shoved").

 

[jacky77]

hmmm haven't done that yet...i throw stuff out after a week. i haven't frozen any food yet...does that make me weird? lol.

 

[CWS4322]

hmmm haven't done that yet...i throw stuff out after a week. i haven't frozen any food yet...does that make me weird? lol.

No, it probably means you don't have 2000 sq ft of gardens and the 3 acres that you plant in the field. To accommodate all the veggies, we have NINE freezers (not counting the ones in the fridges). That probably makes me weird! As if getting the veggies started in the spring weren't enough to keep my DH busy for the month of March, he's busy evap'ing maple sap on his forge (and casting brass knobs for a desk he made). He makes me dizzy!

 

[Silversage]

Just this past week I took out a quart of chicken stock. Turned out to be turkey gravy. So I quickly thawed the leftover thanksgiving turkey legs and made pot pies.

If it hadn't been for that mistake, I probably would have thrown out those turkey legs in a couple years!

 

[jacky77]

No, it probably means you don't have 2000 sq ft of gardens and the 3 acres that you plant in the field. To accommodate all the veggies, we have NINE freezers (not counting the ones in the fridges). That probably makes me weird! As if getting the veggies started in the spring weren't enough to keep my DH busy for the month of March, he's busy evap'ing maple sap on his forge (and casting brass knobs for a desk he made). He makes me dizzy!

wow now i'm jealous.

 

[Zhizara]

hmmm haven't done that yet...i throw stuff out after a week. i haven't frozen any food yet...does that make me weird? lol.

Not really, but you do waste food that way.

If I don't finish off food the day after I make it, I put it in the freezer for a quick and easy meal some other time, when I want something I know is good, but don't feel like messing up the kitchen.

 

[jacky77]

I see that, but it seems like i throw out a bowl of food. I feed three people (including myself) and try to have a leftover night. I guess i don't make enough food. I tried bringing food to work the next day, but gained a little weight. Throwing out a little bit of food each week is fine. If i were to make bigger batches of food, i'd definitely freeze it.

 

[Andy M.]

I label everything. Plastic containers get labeled on the lid with a white board marker. I use the labels on Ziplock freezer bags marking contents and quantities. I review the contents periodically to ensure nothing gets forgotten. It's a foolproof system except for one thing...

...I'm not the only one who puts stuff in the freezer.

 

[taxlady]

We mark everything with a Sharpie. It comes off with rubbing alcohol. We even write the date on butter. Okay, we don't mark things that have good labels